𝐈 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝐗 | 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄

Ownership (n.)
the act of possessing something entirely
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   "See you tomorrow, (Y/N)," Cage called from his car as he drove away, leaving her standing on her front porch shaking her head.

    Gabby was already (meowing/barking) through the door when sensing her arrival, her eagerness at her owner's arrival apparent. Digging into her jacket's pocket for the key, (Y/N) unlocked the door and closed it softly behind her. Hanging up her coat and petting Gabby before ascending the stairs toward her room, she then threw her clothes off to take a quick shower, her muscles easing as soon as the hot water hit her (S/C) skin.

    She then stared at the tiled wall.

Cage...

Ever since that day at my part time job, he's been around me a lot.

Why?

I think we're friends...?

I mean, he didn't sound opposed to it when I accidentally said that—to be honest, I didn't even know what we were, I just said the first thing that came to mind.

Oh, well.

I'm too tired to think about this.

Stepping out of the shower with droplets falling from her form, (Y/N) toweled herself dry before quickly dressing to descend back downstairs. Entering the kitchen to root through the pantry, she grabbed a snack and a (F/D) before settling comfortably on the couch. Only a half hour into the movie that she had put on, the door opened and a rather haggard-looking Darlene stepped inside. She threw her purse and keys down on the counter as she then collapsed onto the couch beside her daughter.

(Y/N) blinked.

"Hey, mom," she greeted. "Are you okay? You look a bit worn out."

"No, my day was awful," Darlene exhaled as she turned to face (Y/N), her eyes soft and rather sad. "My boss made everyone work double-shifts because of the huge order that was placed last minute. Everyone was stressed, and you know what type of anger that leads to."

"Oh... it was that bad, huh?"

"Yeah, but it's the first time in a while we've had to work that hard," Darlene smiled. "Maybe that means something..."

"Means what?" (Y/N) tilted her head.

"Oh, nothing!" The woman waved away her question as she stood up to begin walking up the stairs. "Anyways, I'm going to go get changed and I'll be down shortly to get dinner done, okay?"

She flashed Darlene a thumbs up.

Although still worried for her mom, (Y/N) tuned back in to her movie as she waited patiently for dinner. The next morning after feeding Gabby, the (dog/cat) eagerly munching away on her food, (Y/N) stood up with a stretch before saying goodbye to Darlene and exiting the house with her bag slung over her shoulder. Driving the twenty minutes to school and parking in the student lot, she glanced around to see if Cage were there, but he wasn't.

Giving a small shrug of her shoulders, she then continued her trek inside.

When entering first period chemistry, she was surprised to find no one else in the class save for Thorne who was busily grading papers. However, when he heard her footsteps and glanced up to see who it was, he smiled at her arrival.

"Good morning, (Y/N)."

"Morning," she yawned as she set her backpack on her chair and began to ruffle around through her folders. "I'm surprised no one else is here even though there's only ten minutes left to class. But, that gives me a second to ask you a question if that's okay with you?"

"Ask away," he gestured.

"Could you help me with this?" She handed him a piece of paper after stopping in front of his desk. "Cage explained a bit of this yesterday, but... I still really couldn't get it."

"Hm..." Thorne scanned her writing as he settled back in his chair, running a hand through his messy blonde hair to smoothen the strands that ran down the nape of his neck. "Ah, I see the problem. Since Cage is quite gifted at chemistry, he doesn't use the units in stoichiometry, and I think that's what messes you up. See, if you arrange it like this... the units are now balanced out so you can cancel them all. Simple, right?"

"Oh," (Y/N) stared blankly down at her paper, feeling her face flush with heat at the simple mistake, a reaction that was rare. "Thanks..."

Thorne chuckled.

He watched as she walked back to her desk with that newfound knowledge, his eyes softening. He knew that (Y/N) was someone who valued her academics quite highly considering she attended the school on scholarship, working hard to maintain her rather flawless record. The only blight, he knew, was science. She flourished in history, English, different language courses, math, and other areas of learning. Thorne just couldn't help but wonder why she seemed to find science so difficult.

Tapping a finger against his desk, he thought back to talking with other teachers about her record.

Considering that this was his first year teaching straight out of college, he didn't know much about the students, even less about (Y/N) since she was so closed off. He learned that she took several AP curriculums, yet kept the easy science of regular Biology, Physics, and even combined semesters of Forensics and Psychology, but it meant pushing off Chemistry to the last year.

Thorne exhaled softly.

Tearing his eyes away from (Y/N) after realizing that he had been staring at her for far too long, he smoothened down his tie and began to grade papers again. However, what he didn't know was that someone had seen his little slip up.

Had seen everything, actually.

    Cage wasn't one to eavesdrop.

    In fact, since so many people liked to do it to him, he started to loathe it.

    However, there was something about the interaction between (Y/N) and Thorne that made him falter just outside the doorway instead of waking inside and greeting her like he normally did. At first, she acted as she normally did, but then there was the smile, how flustered she became, and the embarrassment.

    There was something different.

    And it only made Cage's eyes darken.

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To be continued...